Former Everton star supports surgeon who saved his life

Former Everton star Kevin Sheedy (Centre) shows his support forAintree hosptial consultant Paul Skaife (second right) who is going to cycle 500 miles from Radio City Tower to the Eiffel Tower in Paris for the Beating Bowel Cancer charity, with friends David Axon, Tony Crilly and Andy Smallwood

Everton FC legend Kevin Sheedy is backing the surgeon who helped save his life.

Paul Skaife, consultant surgeon at Fazakerley Hospital, who treated Kevin for bowel cancer last year, will cycle from Liverpool to Paris to raise funds for the Beating Bowel Cancer charity.

The 500-mile route will start at the iconic Radio City tower in the city centre, from where the group will cycle down to Dover, take a ferry across the English Channel to Calais and then cycle on to Paris, where they will finish under the Eiffel Tower.

Kevin said: “The team at Aintree were incredible when I was undergoing treatment but the key is to diagnose the cancer early. My life was saved through early detection and I hope this bike ride will help raise awareness of the cancer and the symptoms to look out for.”

Paul, along with Andrew Smallwood, a chemical engineer at Rockwood Additives Limited, Tony Crilly, HR director for Invensys Energy Controls, David Axon, chief executive of Consilia and Peter Mounsey, head of operations advisory at Grant Thornton, are hoping to complete the journey in five days.

Ahead of their gruelling task which starts on Tuesday, September 10 Kevin invited the group to Everton’s training ground to wish them good luck.

Paul said: “We’ve been cycling together at weekends for the past few months to help build up our endurance and the support from Kevin will be a great boost if we feel our energy levels start to drop.

“It’s important for people to be aware of the symptoms of bowel cancer so that, if they spot them, they can go to their GP immediately to get themselves checked out.”

Rachel Thomas, from Beating Bowel Cancer in the North West, said: “We’re incredibly grateful for the support the team has given the charity and wish them the best of luck on their journey to Paris.

Donations can be given at www.justgiv ing.com/teams/

BeatingBowel Cancer and the group will be updating followers on their progress on Twitter using the hash tag #liverpool toparis.